Kristin Hannah’s best-selling historical fiction book The Nightingale will be made into a movie after all.
The project was first sparked before the COVID-19 pandemic, which slowed momentum on the making of the film. Now the movie has a theatrical release date set and a growing cast attached to the story.
For everything we know about The Nightingale movie, read on.
When will The Nightingale movie come out?
TriStar has set February 12, 2027 as the release date for the film.
Has The Nightingale started production?
Yes, Kristin Hannah posted at the end of March that the film had started production. Elle Fanning did press for Margo’s Got Money Troubles in April before the show’s premiere on Apple TV, but she had hinted as had her sister Dakota, that they would start shooting in a few weeks when Deadline spoke with them at SXSW Film Festival 2026.
Deadline also recently interviewed Lauren Neustadter, President of Film and Television at Reese Witherspoon’s Production Company Hello Sunshine while she was on set in Budapest, where the film is shooting
Who will be in The Nightingale movie?
Sisters Dakota and Elle Fanning, who have been attached to star and produce since the adaptation started gaining traction in 2019, will portray sisters Vianne and Isabelle.
Deadline exclusively reported that Edmund Donovan (Late Fame) landed a starring role alongside the sisters in January 2026. Details of his role are under wraps.
Next to join as first reported by Deadline are Mark Rylance (The BFG, Ready Player One) and Shira Haas (Unorthodox, Captain America: Brave New World).
What is Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale about?
The story centers sisters Vianne Mauriac and Isabelle Rossignol, who experience German-occupied France during World War II in their own ways. Vianne, the older sister, is more cautious while Isabelle boasts a rebellious spirit. The sisters split up during the war, “resisting in different ways” as Fanning put it when she did Deadline’s Take Ten interview series.
Who else is behind The Nightingale movie?
Michael Morris is directing the film. Dana Stevens (The Woman King) wrote the script for the film. Elizabeth Cantillon will produce for The Cantillon Company, alongside the Fannings and Brittany Kahan Ward for the Fanning sisters’ production company Lewellen Pictures, and Reese Witherspoon and Lauren Neustadter for Hello Sunshine. The Nightingale was the Reese’s Book Club selection for March 2023. Nicole Brown and Shary Shirazi are overseeing for TriStar Pictures.
TriStar first acquired the film rights in 2015 with Ann Peacock attached to write. Writer-director Michelle MacLaren and co-writer John Sayles were involved in a later iteration, with the Fannings initially boarding to star in a version helmed by Mélanie Laurent from Stevens’ script. When the Covid pandemic kept delaying the making of the movie, Laurent stepped back to attend to other projects.
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